学进去

A month before my first marathon(马拉松), one of my knees was hurt and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two _______ to train. Yet, I decided to go ahead.

I remember back to my first P. E. class, the teacher asked us to run and then hit a softball. _______ didn’t do either well. “You are not athletic, young man,” he said to me, in front of all the others. That is to say, I was not good at sports.

The idea that I was “not athletic” with a great sense of _______ went with me for many years. Till I started to _______ in my 30s, I realized running was a fight against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the fight against my own body and mind. A test of _______!

The night before my marathon, I dreamed that I couldn’t even find the finish line. I woke up sweating(流汗) all over, but ready to show _______ to myself.

Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces(鞋带) went loose, _______ I had to stop to manage. Not the start I wanted but I would never _______ this chance.   

At mile 3, I passed a sign: “GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!”

By mile 17, I became out of breath and my knee hurt badly. _______ resting, I continued the race. I walked ________ a bit and then ran again.

By mile 21, I was so tired and ________ that I could even eat a horse!

As I was reaching mile 23, I could hear my wife cheering me on at the finish line. “I can do it!” I ________ myself.

I was one of the final runners, but I ________! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the man who came in first place had.

Decide to be myself, move forward, shake off shame and ________ others labeled me. I can now call myself a “marathon __________.”